A's early off-season leaders

The Oakland A's seem hell-bent on keeping the Winter Championship trophy in the AL West, getting out of the off-season gate quickly (like the Mariners did a year ago -- how'd that work out for them?)

Two days after acquiring outfielder David DeJesus in a trade with the Kansas City Royals, they claimed third baseman Edwin Encarnacion off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. Encarnacion hit .244 with 21 home runs in 96 games last season, his second 20-homer season in the past three years.

In addition, the A's won the bidding to try and and sign Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma.

The 27-year-old Encarnacion made $4.75 million for that effort and is arbitration eligible (and the Jays have a boatload of those) -- as is the A's incumbent at third base, Kevin Kouzmanoff.

The addition of Encarnacion makes Kouzmanoff a non-tender candidate (and thus a possible free agent. Kouzmanoff hit .247 with a team-high 16 home runs for the feeble offense of the 2010 A's.

Those numbers don't look bad when stacked up against the collective production of Angels third basemen in 2010 (a .223 average, .307 slugging percentage, eight home runs and 52 RBI).

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